Hard rockers Deftones take their heavy post-grunge ways to another level on their third album White Pony. Sensing painful frustrations and personal rediscovery with its allusive microcosm of an album title, the Californian alt-rock five piece were periodically stifled while making White Pony.

Their 1997 sophomore effort Around the Fur was hailed to blast out commercially, but such pressure crippled the band musically and personally. The band struggled with leading its direction, trudging through weighed emotion, but White Pony was the tantalizing outcome. Deftones went soft, but in an impressive way, to twist around its signature punk thrash sound.

There aren't any lackluster similarities to Limp Bizkit and Korn. Deftones have forged ahead, unafraid to delve into the influences of The Smiths and The Cure.